Gmail to Airtable: 4 Ways to Connect Gmail and Airtable

Gmail and Airtable are both powerful tools, but there is no native connection between them. Airtable does not have a built-in Gmail integration, and Gmail has no way to send emails directly into an Airtable base. You need a third-party method to bridge the gap.

The good news is that four solid methods exist, each suited to different workflows and comfort levels. This guide covers all of them so you can pick the right one.

Here is what we will compare:

1. Gmail add-on (manual, one-click saving from Gmail sidebar)
2. Email forwarding (automatic, rule-based saving)
3. Zapier (general automation platform)
4. Make (flexible automation, more modules, more complexity)

Method 1: Gmail Add-on (Quicktion)

A Gmail add-on is the most direct way to save an email to Airtable. You are already in Gmail reading the email. You click a button. The record appears in your Airtable base. No copy-pasting, no switching tabs to manually enter data.

Quicktion's Gmail add-on works as a sidebar panel inside Gmail. When you open any email, you click the Quicktion icon in the right sidebar, select your destination Airtable base and table, and hit save.

How to Set It Up

Step 1: Install the add-on. Open the Google Workspace Marketplace, search for "Quicktion," and click Install. Grant the requested permissions to read email and display the sidebar.

Step 2: Connect Airtable. Open Gmail, click the Quicktion icon in the sidebar, and sign in with your Google account. Then connect your Airtable account by authorizing Quicktion via Airtable's OAuth flow.

Step 3: Create a destination. In the Quicktion dashboard, create a destination linked to an Airtable base and table. Configure field mapping — choose which email fields (subject, sender name, sender email, date, body, attachments) map to which Airtable fields.

Step 4: Save an email. Open any email in Gmail, click the Quicktion icon, review the data, and click Save to Airtable. The record appears in your table within seconds.

Edit Before Saving

One feature that sets the Gmail add-on apart from automated methods is the ability to review and edit data before saving. Before you confirm the save, you can see exactly how the record will look in Airtable and modify any field. This is useful when you want to add a category, change a status, or fill in a field that the email does not contain.

What Gets Saved

• Subject saved to a single line text field
• Sender name and email saved to separate fields
• Date received saved to a date field
• Full email body converted to markdown and saved to a long text field
• Attachments uploaded directly to Airtable attachment fields

Pros

• One-click saving from inside Gmail
• Preview and edit data before it hits Airtable
• Full email body preserved as readable markdown
• Attachments uploaded natively to Airtable
• No forwarding rules to configure
• Works for any email you choose to save

Cons

• Manual — requires you to open and act on each email
• Only works in Gmail (not other email clients)

When to Use It

The Gmail add-on is best for selective saving. You read an email, decide it belongs in Airtable, and save it on the spot. It is ideal for logging important client communications, one-off vendor quotes, support escalations, or any email that does not follow a predictable pattern you could automate.

For a full walkthrough of the Airtable save flow, see our guide to saving emails to Airtable.

Method 2: Email Forwarding (Quicktion)

Email forwarding is the hands-off approach to Gmail-to-Airtable integration. Instead of manually saving each email, you forward it to a unique address and it automatically appears as a new record in your Airtable table.

How It Works

Step 1: Create a destination. In the Quicktion dashboard, create a destination linked to your Airtable base and table. Configure field mapping the same way as the add-on. Quicktion generates a unique forwarding address like abc123@in.quicktion.io.

Step 2: Forward emails. You can forward emails manually by sending them to your Quicktion address, or — more powerfully — set up automatic forwarding with Gmail filters.

Step 3: Records appear automatically. Every email forwarded to your Quicktion address is processed and saved to Airtable within seconds. No manual action required.

Setting Up Auto-Forwarding in Gmail

This is where email forwarding becomes truly automatic. Gmail's filter system lets you forward matching emails to your Quicktion address without any ongoing effort.

1. In Gmail, open the search bar dropdown and define your filter criteria — for example, emails from a specific sender, containing certain words, or with attachments
2. Click Create filter
3. Check Forward it to and select your Quicktion forwarding address
4. Optionally check Also apply filter to matching conversations to process existing emails retroactively

From that point on, every matching email is automatically saved to Airtable. You do not need to be at your computer, open Gmail, or click anything.

For the complete setup walkthrough, see our forward emails to Airtable guide.

Pros

• Fully automatic once configured
• Works with any email client, not just Gmail
• Rule-based — only save emails that match your criteria
• Handles high volumes without manual effort
• No per-email action required

Cons

• No preview or editing before the record is created
• Requires setting up Gmail filter rules for automatic behavior
• You need to forward the email (one extra step for manual forwards)

When to Use It

Email forwarding works best for high-volume, predictable workflows. Receipt notifications from specific vendors. Order confirmations from e-commerce platforms. Lead inquiries from a contact form. Newsletter subscriptions you want archived. Any workflow where you can say "all emails from X go to Airtable table Y" is a good candidate for forwarding.

Many users combine both Quicktion methods: forwarding handles automated, recurring emails while the add-on handles one-off, selective saves.

Method 3: Zapier

Zapier is a general-purpose automation platform that connects thousands of apps through trigger-action workflows called Zaps. For Gmail to Airtable, you create a Zap with a Gmail trigger and an Airtable action.

How It Works

Trigger: New email in Gmail (with optional filters like labels, sender, or search terms)

Action: Create a record in Airtable

You authorize Zapier to access your Gmail and Airtable accounts, configure the trigger conditions, map email fields to Airtable fields, and activate the Zap.

What You Get (and Do Not Get) with Zapier

Zapier moves email data into Airtable. But there are meaningful limitations:

Polling delays. Zapier checks Gmail every 5-15 minutes depending on your plan. An email sent at 10:00 AM might not appear in Airtable until 10:15 AM. This is not real-time.

Plain text body. The email body arrives as plain text or raw HTML. Zapier does not convert the body to clean markdown. You get either a stripped-down plain text version or a block of HTML tags. Neither is readable in Airtable's long text field.

No native attachment handling. Zapier provides attachment URLs from Gmail's servers, but it does not download or upload files to Airtable. To get attachments into Airtable attachment fields, you need to add separate steps for downloading the file and re-uploading it. That means additional Zap steps, additional task usage, and additional complexity.

Task-based billing. Every email saved counts as one task. If you add formatting or attachment steps, each step counts as another task. On Zapier's free plan (100 tasks/month), you can save roughly 100 emails per month — and fewer if you add extra steps.

Manual field mapping. You manually map each email field to each Airtable field. If you add or rename fields in your Airtable base later, you need to update the Zap. There is no automatic detection.

Pros

• Works across thousands of apps — if you need to save to Airtable AND trigger something else (Slack, Trello, Asana), one Zap can handle all of it
• Conditional logic — route different emails to different Airtable tables based on rules
• Familiar interface for teams already using Zapier

Cons

• 5-15 minute polling delays (not instant)
• Email body saved as plain text or raw HTML
• Attachments require extra steps and do not land in Airtable attachment fields natively
• $19.99+/month for regular use (free tier is 100 tasks/month)
• Manual field mapping that breaks if you reorganize your Airtable base
• No Gmail add-on for manual, selective saving
• Setup takes 15-20 minutes vs 2-3 minutes for Quicktion

For a direct comparison of Zapier and Quicktion, see our Zapier vs Quicktion for Airtable guide.

When to Use Zapier

Zapier is a reasonable choice when you need complex multi-step automation. For example, when an email arrives, save it to Airtable AND post a message in Slack AND create a task in Asana. Zapier handles that orchestration well.

But if your goal is just getting emails into Airtable cleanly — with proper body formatting and attachments — Zapier requires more setup, costs more, and delivers a worse result than a purpose-built tool.

Method 4: Make (Integromat)

Make (formerly Integromat) is another general-purpose automation platform. It uses a visual drag-and-drop interface with modules rather than Zapier's linear trigger-action flow. Make is more flexible for complex scenarios, but that flexibility comes at the cost of simplicity.

How It Works

In Make, you build a Scenario that contains:

1. A Gmail module to watch for new emails (or emails matching a search filter)
2. An Airtable module to create a new record

You connect the modules, map fields between them, and schedule the scenario to run on a set interval.

Make checks Gmail on a schedule (every 15 minutes on the free plan, more frequently on paid plans). Unlike real-time webhooks, Make is also polling-based.

What Make Does Differently Than Zapier

Make's module system gives you more control over data transformation between steps. You can use built-in functions to parse strings, format dates, or extract specific content from the email body before it reaches Airtable. This is more powerful than Zapier's formatter steps.

Make is also generally cheaper than Zapier for equivalent functionality. The paid plans are lower cost for similar operation counts.

However, the interface is more complex. If you are not already familiar with Make, the learning curve is steeper than Zapier's more intuitive setup flow. For a simple Gmail-to-Airtable workflow, that complexity is not worth the trade-off.

Pros

• More flexible data transformation between steps
• Generally cheaper than Zapier at equivalent volumes
• Powerful for complex, multi-branch automation flows
• Good for teams already invested in the Make platform

Cons

• Steeper learning curve than Zapier
• Still polling-based (not real-time)
• Email body handling is still plain text without custom parsing logic
• Attachments still require custom modules to upload to Airtable
• Overkill for a simple email-to-Airtable workflow
• No Gmail add-on for manual saving

When to Use Make

Make makes sense for teams that are already using it for other automation and want to add an email-to-Airtable workflow within their existing setup. It also works well when you need sophisticated conditional logic or data transformation that simple tools do not support.

For straightforward email saving, Make introduces more complexity than the workflow warrants.

Gmail to Airtable: Method Comparison

Here is how all four methods compare across the factors that matter most:

Which Method Should You Choose?

Choose the Gmail add-on if you want to save specific emails as you read them. You are in Gmail, you see an email worth logging, and you want it in Airtable with one click. The preview-before-saving feature is particularly useful for Airtable workflows where you want to add a status, category, or other context that is not in the email itself.

Choose email forwarding if you want hands-off automation. You have a class of emails — vendor invoices, lead inquiries, order confirmations — that should always go into a specific Airtable table. Set up a Gmail filter once and never think about it again.

Use both Quicktion methods together for complete coverage. Forwarding handles the predictable, recurring emails automatically. The add-on handles the one-off emails you decide to save manually. This combination covers every scenario without any gaps.

Choose Zapier or Make if you need to connect email saving to a broader multi-step workflow. If an incoming email needs to trigger actions across three or four different apps simultaneously, general automation platforms are the right fit. But if the destination is just Airtable, the added complexity and cost are not justified.

For most individuals and small teams, Quicktion is the right answer. The Gmail add-on takes two minutes to set up. Email forwarding takes five. And both produce clean, well-formatted Airtable records with attachments handled automatically — something neither Zapier nor Make delivers out of the box.

Get Started

Install Quicktion from the Google Workspace Marketplace, connect your Airtable account, and create your first destination. The free plan includes 25 emails per month — enough to test the workflow and see how your Airtable records look before committing to a paid plan.

For a complete step-by-step walkthrough, read our guide to saving emails to Airtable.

To set up automatic forwarding, see our forward emails to Airtable guide.